Christmas

I don't have any pics from Christmas Eve with Dave's family yet, but will post as soon as I do.

Christmas morning started off at Deb's house in Orange with Dave's parents. We opened gifts and eat breakfast together.










Then we headed to Norco to Mom & Wendy's home. We played with the verious animals, exchanged gifts, and even took a tour of the neighborhood in "Popeye".




And finally to spend time with my Dad's side of the family in Capo Beach. It was so great to have the family all together again for Christmas. Uncle Scott and I played Santa.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Party

Last night we attended our 1st Christmas Party of the season. It was the party for Dave's work and it was at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach. I got off work early so that we could get the most out of our room reservation. When we arrived the valet took the keys and our bags. We were then met at the door of the lobby by a smiling face who know our names and took us directly to our room. No waiting, no check in, no trying to figure out where our room was from a tiny little hotel map. And when they finally brought up our bags they also brought a complementary bottle of champagne.


Once we were dressed in our finest and ready to party we walked back thru the lobby and down a big staircase to the ball room. We had cocktails and appetizers while mingling before heading in. Dinner was fabulous followed by and even better chocolate tart with raspberry dessert. And then came the dancing!

The best part of the Montage...the bed! OH MY GOSH! It is how I imagine sleeping in heaven will feel (if there is sleeping in heaven). I really wanted to take the bed home with me. Needless to say we slept in and didn't leave until right before check out. We even had breakfast in bed!

Fashion Island

So yesterday we went to Fashion Island to shoot our Christmas Card photo. Of course I can't share the card pics with you yet, but I can show some of the pics I took of the coi pond :o)

I took this last picture by sticking the camera out the window while driving down PCH on the way home.

Weekend of the Arts

Last night we headed back to the Orange County Performing Arts center to see Christopher Parkening (guitar) & Jubilant Sykes (baritone)in the new Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. We had great seats and the hall was absolutely gorgeous! Both musicians performed a cappella and the acoustics were crazy. My favorite pieces were "Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child", "Koyunbaba (The Shepard)" as a guitar solo in an open C# minor chord with only the 1st string at norml pitch, and "Witness" sung aucapela. The tickets were kinda pr icy, but we are really glad we went.

Afterwards we headed over to Morton's Steak House for dessert. We had an amazing Chocolate Souffle and Creme Brule.

Altogether a wonderful evening!

Sweet Charity

On a whim we headed to the Orange County Performing Arts Center last night to get last minute tickets for Sweet Charity starring Molly Ringwald. We had a great time! The tickets were only $25 and worth every penny!

Friends

My dear friend Anita came with me today to visit Breezy. They got along beautifully!

Thank You!

Happy Birthday to My Baby!!!!

We Got Booed!

Last night the door bell rang. I looked out the peep hole, but no one was there. I opened the door to find a gift bag on our door mat and a halloween themed "BOO" sign on our door. There was a note attached to the gift that stated that we had been "booed" and welcome to the neighborhood (the pic shows what was inculded in the gift bag). The note also instructed us to make a copy of the note and boo 2 more people on the block. So today day we went to Starbucks and got cute mugs and candy, made 2 "Boo" signs with my scrapbook matterials and planted them on the door steps of 2 of our neighbors. It is really fun as you drive around our block to see that nearly all of the houses on our street have a "Boo" sign on the door! It is a great community warm fuzzy :o)

Show Season #1 Now Over

Well, so much for being "psyched and ready for the California Challenge October 27, 28, & 29 (the last show of the season)". Our vet came out to do a check up on Mr. Breezy on Wednesday and ended up finding a disruption on his suspensory (sp?). Not a tear or anything permanent, but just enough to keep hom on a walking only regiment for 2-4 weeks. And that means no California Challenge for us. I am disappointed since I feel like I haven't really accomplished what I was hoping for this season and was REALLY excited for that show. And since it was the last derby of the year and Breezy will be too old to do any derbies next year I am extra bummed. But, the good new is that it isn't anything that isn't fixable with just a little rest and relaxation. In just a few weeks he will be good as new!

PCHA J/L Baker Finals Results

Well, I pretty much bombed out on the 1st go-round Friday night. I rode passively and Breezy didn't help pick up any slack for us. We swapped out in the right circles and then got a break of gate penalty on the left circles. One judge scored us 66 and the other 64 (yes, the judging was a bit inconsistent). I was disappointed, but felt like a learned something that I would only be able to learn in the show pen. Bummer it had to happen in the finals, but it's really only my first season back. What did I expect?!?!?

Then in the 2nd go-round I felt some pressure since I desperately didn't want to be called out in last place (which is where I figured I was at going into that night) and a bunch of people had driven out to cheer me on (which by the way, was absolutly amazing to hear all the cherring while I was showing!!!). I couldn't let them down. I ended up riding really hard and Breezy was very good. Rick said he thought it was the best I had ever ridden him. I felt really good...out of breath, but REALLY good! And to top it off, I didn't end up in last place (16th place, actually).

So I didn't make top 10 as I had hoped, but I had fun, looked good (of course), and learned a lot.

Pics from the DVD of Saturday night's ride:






catching out breath after we got out of the show pen

The entire class lined up for the awards ceremony


Now I'm psyched and ready for the California Challenge October 27, 28, & 29 (the last show of the season).

PCHA J/L Baker Reining Classic Finals

I finally have my 10 points to qualify and the finals are only 1 week away! They will be held at the LA Equestrian Center in Burbank inside the Equidome. It is a 2 go-round finals. The 1st round will be on Friday night at 6pm. They will not be announcing scores after each ride (to build suspense, I guess). The 2nd go will be Saturday night at 6pm. The scores from the 2 nights will be combined and all the participants will be brought back into the areana after the last horse goes and the awards will be announced (last place to 1st place). 3 saddles will be given away along with 10 buckles and several other troophys and awards. There will probably be between 25 and 30 horses in the finals so I would be thrilled with being in the 10 ten.

Practice Pen

I am featured in the Practice Pen section of the September 2006 issue of Horse & Rider magazine on page 47. It is a fun article about how to apply your make-up for the show pen featuring me!

The magazine

The article

Making Progress

the living room

standing in the living room shooting toward the piano room

standing in the dining room shooting toward the piano room and the living room

standing in the piano room shooting the dining room

the dining room

standing in the dining room shooting toward the kitchen

the kitchen

master bedroom

master bath

The scrapbook room AND the most exciting part...I found a place to display my teacups!!